Above the Sky I Am Limitless
by MaisieWrites
Summary: Santana is an aerialist in Sylvester's Spectacular, a circus company run by Sue Sylvester that has recently found an investor to take their show back on the road. With the addition of new aerialist performer, Brittany, Santana's faced with having to place her trust in a complete stranger and step out of her comfort zone in order to keep doing what she loves.
1. Chapter 1

"Can you please stop pacing? You're ruining my zees!" I threw a side-eyed glare at my friend as he sat in the corner of my apartment's living room, looking pretty damn comfy in my prized, oversized, leather beanbag chair.

"How can you even think about napping right now?" I questioned incredulously.

"Santana, it's 10am, you woke me up at eight insisting I get out of bed to accompany you to the Lima Bean, but it's damn ridiculous! You know we won't hear anything 'til at least noon."

"You don't know that, Puck. She said she'd call this morning, she didn't say what time! Aren't you even the least bit anxious?"

He crossed his arms behind his head, closed his eyes and sunk further into the beanbag before responding with a much too blasé "Nope".

I shook my head at him, not understanding how he could be so calm on a day that carried such weight. I plonked myself on my small couch biting what was left of my almost non-existent nails. I wasn't normally a person of nervous disposition, in fact, Puck's 'come as it may' attitude was a trait we both shared, but today, my palms were sweating and I knew it had little to do with the strangely humid April morning. I looked around the room for anything I could use as distraction, but came up empty. I loved this little apartment, it was the first place I could truly call my own and even though I was away from it for large portions of the year at a time, I couldn't bear to part from it, so continued to pay rent and use it as a base camp whenever I actually was in town. It wasn't expensive, but paying rent on an apartment you weren't living in, did make finances tighter than they really needed to be. Puck had offered to chip in since he stays here most of the time we're home, but I declined his offer, feeling that him paying rent essentially made us roommates and I did _not _want that being the case.

I had almost broken the skin of my finger with all my gnawing when the shrill ring of the phone blared through the otherwise silent room. It was the sound I had been waiting for since I woke at 7:30, and I leaped to grab it from the coffee table. _Please let it be good news, please_, I thought to myself.

"Hello?"

"Pack your bags, we're taking this show on the road." Sue Sylvester's voice came from the other end of the line. She rarely sounded so buoyant unless she was dishing out insults or watching a disaster of some kind unfold, but I could hear in her words, she was as relieved and ecstatic as I was.

"We got the investment?" I asked for 100% confirmation; I could see Puck struggle to sit upright in the beanbag chair, his eyes wide and alert now that he had pretty much sussed out the content of the conversation.

"No, I just like calling you with false news just to hear the raspy sound of your sandpaper voice first thing in the morning. Of course we got the investment." Sue's minor insult didn't even phase me in this moment.

"When do we leave?" I was now bouncing on the balls of my feet, too buzzed to keep still.

"Next week. I've hired a director to help revamp the show. I thought of just doing it myself but then figured that would require being around all of you imbeciles for hours upon hours a day, and realised I had little interest in self-torture so Will Schuester will be joining us, and I need you all present for a debriefing tomorrow morning at the Lima community center."

Debriefing... _Wanky. _

"Ok, you got it! I'm with Puck, so I'll let him know. And, uh, thanks, Sue."

"Shut up." And with that the line went dead.

"So we're back in business?" Puck was standing now, knowing the answer but asking anyway.

I nodded excitedly and he opened his arms to me. I ran and jumped into his strong embrace, letting him lift me off the ground and spin us in a circle.

/

Puck and I were part of a circus company called Sylvester's Spectacular; we'd been traveling with the company for the last two years but funding had all but dried up and the fate of it's future had been looking bleak the past couple of months. We'd wrapped up our last festival back in October and all returned home, for most of us, that meant Lima, Ohio.

The company was run by a fierce, and awful woman named Sue Sylvester who claimed she was the daughter of Henry Ringling North (you may have heard of the Ringling Brothers Circus) and that she had decided to branch out on her own with the circus in her blood, however, not-so-extensive Googling proved all of this to be untrue. Still, Sue was a pretty damn good commander in chief so no one really called her out on all the bullshit she spewed, besides, if someone did, she'd likely fire them... most likely from a cannon with no safety net on the receiving end.

Fortunately, Sue found a promising investor in Mr. Figgins of Figgin's Figs, a pretty large baked goods company, who had, it would seem, a lifelong love of the circus and had once upon a time dreamed of being a circus performer. Turns out though, Mr. Figgin's is an exceptionally easily spooked man with a dire fear of clowns, heights, and all animals so that didn't pan out how he would've liked. It also turns out, that Mr. Figgin's is also exceptionally easily manipulated, which explains how Sue managed to get funding from him for our small company rather than him offering it to a much larger, more famous one. Still, his contribution ensured we were heading back out on the road, and personally I didn't give a rat's ass where or how we got the financing for it.

The circus was everything to me and Puck, and not just because we weren't really qualified to do much else, but at one point or another, it had saved us both from our own demons.

You see, Puck and I met in first grade, we bonded over being the only two people in school who weren't a complete waste of each other's time. Sure, he could really push my buttons from time to time, but we shared a mutual respect from day one on the playground when we were the only two kids who could successfully manoeuvre from one end of the monkey bars to the other without falling on our face. From that day on, we became pretty inseparable; he'd even agreed to join gymnastics with me when we were seven and a half because I convinced him that Spiderman definitely took gymnastics in order to move the way he did. We were pretty good. No, we were better than good, we were exceptional. We initially both dreamed of one day going to the Olympics, it seemed pretty rational, we had the skill, and with a few more years training, there's no reason we couldn't make it.

When we were thirteen a travelling circus came to town, this was before we really cared about image or status, before what our friends would think of us became priority. We became enamoured with the bright lights, the fancy costumes, the attractive performers and how the aerialists seemed to glide through the air like they were equipped with invisible wings. We became so obsessed with the idea of the circus, we even began taking circus workshops at a small arts center an hour outside of town. We loved it. Every minute.

A year or so later, when social status became not only a concern, but a necessity, we agreed that though our years spent training as gymnasts and our brief period of circus workshops had been fun, it was time to grow up and focus on how to avoid social obscurity; so we quit. Just like that.

At first it was fine, worth it even. I became a cheerleader and Puck a football player, immediately transitioning us to the highest position on the high school food chain, but our euphoria and success was short lived. By senior year, Puck had a number of minor offences under his belt, from petty theft to vandalism, and even spent a brief part of junior year in juvee, while I drained Lima's high school parties of their alcohol supply and quickly made my way into the bed of half the McKinley High football team in a pathetic fight against my sexuality.

Ultimately, after some reluctantly received counselling from our school's eccentric guidance counsellor, we faced the fact that our downward spirals needed to stop, and agreed that the last time we felt truly happy was when we were suspended in the air, contorting our bodies on silks and swings. So we made the hour long trip out of town that following week to our old workshop and never looked back.

Just before graduation, while all our peers were deciding which college had the most to offer in catering to their horny, partying needs, Puck and I found ourselves at yet another crossroad. Neither of us were really keen on furthering our education, but we also didn't want to end up in this loser town forever. Instead of making a hasty decision that would put our parents thousands of dollars in debt, we took a few night classes at the local community college, and spent our days as instructors at the circus workshop that had saved us.

We were 19 and almost a year out of McKinley when Sue Sylvester came to speak at one of the workshop's seminars. She seemed to loathe Puck from the get-go but appeared to only mildly detest me. After witnessing one of our demonstrations she offered us an opportunity to join her company and travel the world with Sylvester Spectacular, and with just a knowing look to one another, we agreed on the spot. So far the "world" hasn't extended outside of the United States, but with this new investment from Mr. Figgins I was optimistic we could really branch out.

* * *

We woke early the next morning, me somewhat more reluctantly than the previous day. I wasn't necessarily not a morning person, but I just feel that others hold 'morning' to an indecently early standard.

Making our traditional crack of dawn stop at The Lima Bean, we continued on our way to the community center. The parking lot was relatively deserted aside from Sue's shiny red sports car, Mike's smart car, Kitty's Prius, Artie's mom's car which he drove whenever the company was in town, and two vehicles I didn't recognise, one was a bright, lime green bug; the other, a beat up blue Honda. Most of us carpooled; some chose to walk, so these two foreign motors could easily belong to any of our other members, but I presumed at least one belonged to Sue's newly hired director.

We walked into the moderately sized hall and the hint of a smile graced my groggy features when I saw the ropes and silks and other props strategically placed around the room. Of course, Puck and I had continued to train even during our time off, but the familiar sight with our friends all in their elements brought a warmth to my chest that I had been longing for these past few months.

"Nice of you to join us, Sandbags. Did your boobs sag above your head while you slept, muffling the sound of your alarm and causing you to be late?" I rolled my eyes, but I had to give her credit, even in the wee hours of the morning, Sue managed to find it within herself to dish out the insults. During my brief stint of high school rebellion, I had convinced my dad to buy me a boob job, and since Sue found out, she never let's me live it down, not that I'm ashamed of them, in fact, they're one of my favourite features, but she has some opposition to body modifications and likes to remind me of it any chance she gets.

"We're literally right on time, Sue." I inform her, not even attempting to keep the mild irritation from my tone.

"That's five minutes late in this biz, Boobs Magee." She shot back as if expecting my response. "Ok, everybody gather 'round. This," she gestured to the man to her left, "is William Schuester. I hired him over the phone; had I known he was harvesting a fire hazard worth of gel on his head, naturally, I would have immediately hung up and he wouldn't be here, but what's done is done."

I had to giggle at this, Sue sounded genuinely remorseful. To his credit this William character simply brushed off her insult and smiled at everyone (much too enthusiastically for this hour of the day).

"Hey guys! I'm really looking forward to seeing what we come up with, I've got some great new ideas for us to try."

"Ok, that's enough from you." Sue said, pushing his shoulder until he was forcefully pushed back into his chair. "Next on the agenda, and due to Figgins' more than generous donation that I take full credit for, we have been able to take on two new acts this time around. The mohawked disappointment and myself found them at a circus convention in San Diego a few months back, and I have decided they don't entirely suck, so please welcome Brittany Pierce and Quinn Fabray."

I shot Puck a quizzical look, I knew he had attended the convention in San Diego with Sue and few others just after our last run had wrapped; I couldn't go because I had sprained my knee in an ironically non-circus related injury and was forced to rest, but he never mentioned scouting any new potential acts.

He gave me a guilty look, and mouthed 'I'll explain later'. It wasn't up to me who got hired, so I wasn't really in a position to be mad, but I feel like hiring two new performers was something that should have at least been discussed with the rest of the group. Most people had to audition. Back when Sue took on myself and Puck, she had been completely re-vamping the entire troupe anyway so pretty much everyone was new, she claimed her old performers were only fit for nursing homes or graves but really couldn't have been much more than 25 - 30. I hadn't noticed them when I first entered, but I'd been distracted with the awe of being back in my haven.

Now that I was looking at them, I could see why Puck would have been on the support team for their getting hired. They were both gorgeous, with blonde hair, hypnotising eyes, and porcelain skin. One was taller than the other with her hair scraped back in a high ponytail; she wore a blue tank top that showed off her toned, muscular arms, and made her blue eyes pop. The shorter girl was rocking the girl next door look, with a butter wouldn't melt smile, and cute shoulder length hair; she was wearing a purple hoodie but it was fitted enough that I could tell she had good, strong form. Puck was a sucker for blondes... another thing we have in common.

"Hey everyone, I'm Brittany, this is Quinn. We're really excited to be joining Sylvester's Spectacular on the road, and I think I speak for both of us when I say we're even more excited to get to know each and every one of you."

It may have been wishful thinking, but I swear Brittany looked directly at me when she said this.

"Yes Kitty?" Sue sighed at the only other blonde girl in the group, whose hand was extended in the air.

I liked Kitty in small doses, but overall she was a pain in the ass, not much of a team player, and completely self-obsessed. Her act was equilibristics, and she believed that it was the most impressive of all performances. In my opinion it was just an exceptionally well honed party trick.

"What exactly will their roles be?" She asked, managing to sound both bored and irritated all at once.

To be fair, it was a valid question, one I was more than keen to hear the answer to.

"Brittany here is an aerialist, she specialises in silks, but displays fantastic skill on seemingly all suspended apparatus." I looked to Brittany, surprised to see a hint of a blush creep up her neck and ears. Sue Sylvester did not hand out compliments easily and usually anyone who did receive one wore nothing but a smug smile and the clothes on their back for the next year or so. That sat well with me, the last thing I needed was a an aerialist version of Kitty.

"And Quinn, is a contortionist. As you all know, our last contortionist left us for the Travelling Troubletones mid-season last tour," she glared at me while saying this, causing me to shrink in my seat lest our new additions notice and want an explanation. "But that's irrelevant because Quinn here, is a more than capable replacement."

Quinn bowed her head in gratitude, but seemed more pleased than humbled by the praise.

"Now that the pleasantries have been dealt with, we have a lot of work to do before we hit the circuit, so let's get to it."

/

We all took our stations for warm ups.

As it turned out, Quinn and Brittany were as impressive as Sue had said. Like myself and Puck, both were former gymnasts, and Brittany had taken dance classes since she could walk, which explained how every moved she made while suspended in the air was so fluid and graceful.

Unlike myself and Puck, they had not met at school, but rather unconventionally at an infant and mother basket weaving class (yeah, who knew that was a thing?) their hippie mothers had both attended, and had bonded over their equally eccentric, yet supportive parents.

Brittany had explained how, upon showing up to her gymnastics class early one day, she caught her instructor performing aerialist like tricks on a rope and asked if he could teach her. After that, she began showing up earlier every day for these specialised lessons. Quinn hadn't been as interested in the aerialist thing, but had been interested in the instructor, so tagged along with Brittany anyway. Once they outgrew their basic training with him, he put them in touch with some friends he had that ran a circus center just outside of Orlando where they spent much of their childhood, and the rest is history.

Quinn appeared to be more straight laced than Brittany, and had I met her in any other setting, and not witnessed her body contort like her bones were made of play-dough, I would have pegged her for a kindergarten teacher, or maybe a paediatric nurse, she didn't seem like the type to run off and join the circus. She did admit that had her parents not raised her in such a free spirit environment, and had her best friend been anyone but Brittany, she probably would have taken a more traditional route in life, but her friend somehow persuaded her that normal was for the boring and there was a lot more to be gained from the visceral reality of a life of unknown, and convinced her that a the adventure they would take would be so much more fulfilling than that of a 9-5 steady job. Brittany was clearly, incredibly intelligent.

* * *

Working with a director proved to be more of a challenge than I'd anticipated. We were used to choreographing and coming up with our own performances, showing them to Sue, have her shout how terrible they were, tightening them up until they were damn near perfect, show them to Sue again, and if she told us they gave her mild constipation, we knew we'd done our job and she was impressed. But Will was more of a gentle soul, he seemed to want us to have fun in our routines, which we did regardless, but I disagreed with his lenient methods. This wasn't a joke, people were paying to come see us and our show needed to be on point. Our difference of opinion caused us to clash at least two or three times a day, and by day four, it almost seemed routine for me to storm out at least once.

I wasn't the only one who had issues with his methods, I could tell Mike, our stilt-walking, acrobatic, juggler, was having a hard time adhering to Will's advice, but Mike was always much too nice to speak up about it. Instead of arguing with him, Kitty outright ignored him and did things her way; I half contemplated following suit, but then I reminded myself that Kitty was a selfish bitch and not a team player, and I'd rather voice my opinion than not work with my team.

Puck handled his criticism better, and seemed more than happy with a more laid back approach to work, but I swear, if Puck got any more laid back I'd be pulling him around by his mohawk, cavewoman style.

Brittany and Quinn didn't seem to mind Will, but having never been part of a circus, and only performing in cirque du soleil-esque shows a few times a year, they were used to different directors giving them different instructions.

I was trying, I really was, there were only three more days until we'd pack up to head to our first destination, and I still felt like my act was missing something, but I didn't know what. Of course I wanted this to go well, if this run went without a hitch, Mr. Figgins would definitely become a more permanent investor, and I knew we all had a part to play in insuring this happened, even if Sue would ultimately take all the credit.

"Okay, okay" Will said, holding up his hands in the form of a T, signalling a time out. I lowered myself from where I hung from my trapeze. "I think we need to think of a different approach. This just isn't working."

"I agree" he looked a bit surprised that I hadn't argued the matter, but he was right, whatever we were doing felt boring and rigid, and I wasn't happy enough with it to take it on the road.

"I think everyone's a little too into their comfort zones, if we really want to wow the audience, we're going to have to offer them something they haven't seen from Sylvester's Spectacular before, or from any other circus currently doing the rounds."

I nodded, he was right. This all felt too structured, too predictable. I looked to Puck to gauge his reaction; he just shrugged and nodded as if agreeing but not being completely bothered one way or the other, he looked to Brittany.

"You got any ideas?" It struck me as odd that he would ask Brittany for input rather than me, after all, I was his best friend, if he had given me a second I could have come up with something... probably. And not to mention, Will was the director, it was literally his_ job_ to formulate ways to improve the show. But then it occurred to me that he probably wanted to seem like a sweet, genuinely interested, rare breed of male to the only two people in the troupe that didn't know of his man-whoring, love 'em and leave 'em ways. I'd seen him help Quinn out with various things that had nothing to do with his performance over the past few days when he should've been running through the doubles routine with me.

Brittany looked around hesitantly, as if surprised that anyone was interested in her opinion, and looking a little reluctant to contribute. I didn't understand why, from everything I've heard of Brittany, and from Brittany, she seemed like an exceptionally bright person, and though I was mildly offended Puck hadn't asked _me,_ his _partner_, for ways to bring more life to the show, I was curious about what Brittany might bring to the table.

She met my eyes for a brief moment before casting them to the ground, "Uhm, we could maybe try a double trapeze?"

She spoke so quietly that I was surprised any of us even heard her. I did however, and I was confused. "We already have a double trapeze, Puck and I fall into sync in the second half of the set... on the cradle." I reminded her. I didn't want to seem dismissive of the idea, but her suggestion wasn't exactly useful.

She seemed to understand what she had said, and appeared frustrated that she hadn't successfully explained something.

"No, I know, and it's great. You guys work great together. You're both very talented."

Puck looked thrilled with the compliment, clearly not realising there was a 'but' about to follow.

"But," There it is, "It just, kind of looks _done_, you know? It's too familiar, like you've been doing it forever. I know, it's not a bad thing to know the routine in your sleep, but" she gestured to me "you were a cheerleader, right? Would your squad have shown up to competitions every year with the same routine? Probably not, it gets tired."

She had a point. For years, Puck and I had just been going through the motions, doing different variants of the same routine. It was flawlessly executed every single time, but now that I thought of it, it wasn't exciting anymore. I didn't feel the rush of adrenaline as I flung myself from my cradle, I knew he'd catch me, and he always did. But it went beyond simply trusting him to find my limbs and hold them in his sturdy grasp, it was monotonous. He couldn't have dropped me even if he wanted to, our bodies were so rehearsed in the movements that it was almost as instinctual as breathing.

"What are you suggesting, Brittany?" Will pressed on when Puck and I remained silent.

"I think - I _feel_ the audience would be more surprised to see a female double trapeze. They expect a man's strength will hold, the anxiety will surely mount if, I, were to say, catch Santana in the air. She's small enough that I could throw her and catch her with ease. But not only that, if we made it an entire routine, not just a brief part of simultaneous solo performances, if we worked together as one, almost like a dance routine in the sky."

"Then were do I fit into all of this?" Puck questioned defensively, clearly not liking being the third wheel to Brittany's somewhat brilliant suggestion.

"I still think you're a valuable asset to the cradle act. But we could, maybe, do it with three people instead of two. And you could take over my solo performance, I don't know how well you walk a tight-rope, but I could teach you-"

"I can walk a tight-rope."

"Oh," Brittany looked at the ground again, and I burned holes into the side of Puck's head with my vicious glare at his lack of tact. "Well, then, it should be fine. It just means we would have to scratch the old choreography, develop new ones that suit us all better, and maybe take a few risks."

"Like what?" Brittany had successfully piqued my interest.

She shrugged, like she hadn't fully formulated the entire plan quite yet. "I dunno, like hair hanging?"

My eyes widened in momentary shock. I'd never tried that before, and truth be told, it didn't sound too tempting, but we needed this funding and like Will said, we had to leave our comfort zones.

"And, I don't know, maybe Puck could add a theme to his act, like a cowboy theme with a lasso? Or he could do other forms of acrobatics, it doesn't necessarily need to be in the air."

I looked to Puck, though I was all for Brittany's idea, Puck had been my partner for years and if he wasn't cool with the idea, then I wouldn't do it.

He seemed to contemplate it for a moment, before a broad grin stretched across his face. "You know what, Britt! A whole new act sounds like a great idea! Puckasaurus is more than a one trick pony, it's about time I showed off more of my hidden talents."

"You're all really ok with this?" Will chimed in. I'd almost forgotten he was there.

"I love it." Puck said with a newfound enthusiasm at the idea that he no longer had to share the spotlight with me, and would also get to display the many other talents I knew he'd honed over the years. Truth be told, I was beginning to feel he was growing bored being my partner. Puck was great, but he had the attention span of a child, if he wasn't stimulated with what he was doing, he'd just stop caring. That's why he hadn't been as anxious as I was while waiting to hear about the funding, he'd stopped caring, he just hadn't realised it yet, but it would only have been a matter of time. He was bored, and so was I. Brittany may have been the best thing to happen to us.

I smiled brightly, staring directly into Brittany's eyes when I spoke next so that there'd be no doubt in her mind that I meant every word. "I think it's genius, Brittany."

* * *

**A/N: Hey, if you've reached this point it means you probably read this chapter, and for that I'd like to extend a very sincere thank you.**

**I saw someone post a Circus themed Brittana photo edit on Tumblr the other day, and saw the person mentioned wanting a circus fic to accompany it, and it got me thinking of the circus, and how a circus fic could be fun to write, so here it is. **

**For those of you that read any of my other f****ics, I promise this story won't compromise them. I'm just in an "I love writing fan fiction" place right now, which is weird considering the lack of Brittana, and all around quality of Glee, but in such dire times we do tend to turn to fanficiton, don't we?  
**

**Anywho, I just wanted to let you know that I'm not, for now at least, biting off more than I can chew with having multiple fics (at least I don't think I am) and hope you enjoyed this first instalment. **


	2. Chapter 2

I arrived to rehearsals early the next morning with a newfound enthusiasm. The gym was empty aside from the props and instruments needed for each performance that were now neatly tucked into one corner.

The rest of the troupe were due to arrive in the afternoon. With us leaving in just two days everyone had a lot to get together before hitting the road again. I'd done most of my packing last night, but I usually didn't take much beyond one suitcase full of clothes.

I looked at my phone and saw that it was just a little after 9am. Brittany would be here soon. I figured I may as well set up everything we'd need to practise with while I waited, although there wasn't much to do, the aerial equipment had been pretty much left were it was after our late finish yesterday.

I jumped when the door slammed open and turned to face an apologetic Brittany.

"Sorry, the door was stiff, I guess I used a bit too much force." She shrugged with a nervous laugh.

I couldn't help but smile fondly at her. She always seem to have this air of innocence about her that I found adorably charming.

I noticed her cheeks flush the faintest shade of red, but that may have been due to the still oddly chill weather outside.

"Cold out there, huh!" I stated, simply for something to say. Brittany shook off her jacket, giving me a confused looked as she did so.

"I guess...? I drove here and my car has heating. Did you walk?! I could have picked you up?"

Amused at how put out she seemed to be that I had potentially walked to the gym, I felt a little flustered that my attempt at small talk had been so poorly received. "N-no. I just meant-" figuring that pointing out how her cheeks had seemed flushed, might make things awkward, I decided to just brush the whole conversation off altogether "I drove here. Do you wanna start warming up?"

She nodded and smiled at my suggestion, taking up position on the mat next to mine.

/

I couldn't tell if Brittany played for my team, which I found frustrating. I usually had such a good sense for these things. She was touchy, but her touches never lingered, and she would hold the most intense eye contact and laughed at all my lame jokes, but the more I had watched her over the past week, the more I noticed that she just seemed to be really into eye contact when she spoke to absolutely everyone, even Sue, and no one ever looked Sue in the eye for long, and laughed at most people's jokes to be polite. Nothing she did had really hinted at her sexuality one way or the other. But now, when it was just the two of us alone in the gym, stretching, and warming up, I caught her sneaking glances my way; I know because I was sneaking glances her way, especially when she leaned forward to stretch her hamstring and my eyes were drawn directly to her cleavage and then down to her toned abs which were gloriously exposed thanks to her navy blue sports bra.

I must have been staring for a moment too long because she cleared her throat which caused my eyes to shoot up and meet hers; I knew for certain I'd been caught when she quirked an accusatory eyebrow at me, but I felt my burning cheeks cool when I saw her smirk before turning her attention to the other leg.

"Should we get started? We have a lot of work to do."

Nodding at Brittany's suggestion, I swallow hard. Not two minutes before, I had been getting all hot and bothered, leering at her gorgeous body, and now here I was, faced with the prospect of having to wrap my thighs around it. I don't think I would have been as nervous about it had she not caught me rotten. Double trapeze is an extremely intimate discipline, which is largely the reason I've avoided partaking in it with anyone I've ever been even remotely attracted to... at least, I've avoided partaking in it on a professional level.

The closeness, the intensity, the willingness to trust the other person completely with your body is similar to something one usually experiences with a lover. It was never a problem pretending with Puck. We'd been training together since before we were even properly aware of sexual desires, and my years of hiding in the closet had made me rather convincing when it came to faking intimacy with a man. Puck and I were able to pull off our act flawlessly, and to an untrained eye, it probably looked pretty damn hot.

That must have been something Brittany noticed though, she could probably sense the lack of lust and passion between us with her eyes closed.

"So... uh, how do you wanna do this?" I asked, cursing myself for how awkward I was being.

She just gave what I was now considering to be her signature Brittany shrug, "Let's just get right down to business, shall we?"

She winked at me as she turned toward the equipment. Now that she had caught me checking her out, she was teasing me, that much was definite. It was a sassy side of her I hadn't seen yet, the charming innocence was nowhere in sight, and I both loved it, and hated that I had so easily given her the upper hand.

As I moved to follow her, something occurred to me. "Hey, Brittany?"

"Hmmm?" Her back was still turned to me, as she fixed her hair in a high ponytail.

"Were you serious yesterday? About the hair hang?"

She glanced over her shoulder at me with a smug smile "Why? You scared?"

Not even pretending to have any kind of bravado in this situation, I nodded earnestly "Actually yes! I quite like my hair being firmly attached to my head, thank you very much."

She fully turned to me now, her smile softer. "You know, Santana, most people underestimate the tensile strength of hair. With the proper technique and practice, a full head of human hair could potentially hold up to 18,518lbs... you could probably hold even more with how much hair you have." She winked, but this time it was in a way I knew she was joking. "But seriously, you're so light, you shouldn't have any trouble."

I contemplated this information, her knowledge and confidence made me less resistant to the idea. "Have you done it before?"

"Only twice. It hurt like hell, but the girl who taught me has been doing it for years and said you hardly feel any pain after a while."

"Who taught you?" My curiosity got the better of me.

Brittany did her best to hide her smirk and shrugged nonchalantly again before turning around. "Just some girl."

Before I had a chance to press further, she spoke again. "But to answer your question, yes, I was serious, but we don't have enough time to practice it now. Maybe we can work on it on the road?"

I still wasn't about the idea, but I didn't want to look lame, so I gave a stiff nod that I at least hoped looked confident, and followed Brittany to the trapeze.

/

"Why don't we just go through some of the basics first? Get to know one another's bodies and techniques." I found her confidence in taking control of the situation almost unbearably attractive. When Puck and I would train, I would always be the one in charge, and though I wasn't typically the type to like being bossed around, I kind of loved it in this moment.

I coughed to clear my throat, and averted my eyes from Brittany to the rope ladder on my left; toying with it. "Sure, sounds good."

Brittany brushed past me and worked her way up the ladder to the trapeze bar first.

She stepped gracefully out onto the trapeze bar, swinging slowly back and forth on it in a standing position; she looked down to to me, "Are you planning on performing from the ground?" She had a light-hearted sarcasm to her voice. "Get your fine ass up here, Lopez."

I ducked my head to hide the blush I could feel heating up my face, and began to climb. In the real show, we most likely would not have a ladder at most of our venues, just a rope. I didn't mind it, the audience always seemed more awed by how easy we made rope climbing look, after all, most of them had been forced to endure it as a form of torture in gym class; that was always my favourite class, I didn't even feel bad gloating about how naturally skilled I was at the task.

When I arrived at the top, I watched Brittany intently, and she watched me, still swinging slowly back and forth on the bar, neither of us breaking eye contact. She did this for a few short second before, and without warning, she dropped. I gasped in momentary panic, until I saw she had a firm grip on the bar with her right hand and was grinning wickedly back up at me.

She really was something unpredictable. I couldn't remember the last time I felt so buzzed about just a simple rehearsal.

She reached her other hand up to grip the bar, then, using her lower half, pulled her legs up, and contorted her body into an L shaped pose, releasing one of her hands again and fluttering it at me in almost royal-like wave.

She was showing off.

Normally, this might bother me; especially when our deadline was so close and this performance needed to be perfect, but I found myself amused by her playfulness. I don't ever recall a time when Puck and I had been this playful in the gym the week before a show. In one more practiced motion, Brittany swung both her legs up and wrapped them around the ropes attached to the bar, letting her upper body dangle just in front of where I was positioned.

With a friendly smile, she reached out an arm to me, and I hesitantly took it. She seemed immediately sure in her grasp, although I wasn't quite so confident, this was the first time I'd trusted an almost perfect stranger in this fashion, but she had a look in her eyes that said _'trust me'_ and for reasons I can't quite explain, I did. She extended her other arm, and I took that one too; releasing my legs from the ladder and trusting that, with just her legs supporting us both on the trapeze, she wouldn't drop me.

Brittany waited for my next move. I could tell she was being patient with me; she wasn't going to rush me into anything. It was different for her, she had performed with many different partners over the years. I had worked solely with Puck. Even though I wanted to, trusting her immediately was impossible.

I took a deep breath in; squeezing my hands tighter around her wrists, I pulled my body in a slow, back-flip type motion, pausing at a roughly sixty-five degree angle, I pulled one leg toward my abdomen, and extended the other so it was in line with my back. I couldn't see Brittany's face as I was facing the ground below, but she gave my wrists a comforting squeeze, encouraging me to keep going, and I did, pausing for just a second longer before dropping my body, and in a move of bold confidence, letting go of one of her arms, using the other as leverage to twist myself in a circle and grab it again. From this position, I swiftly pushed my body body backwards, moving my legs between us, and swinging them up to join hers on the bar.

We now hung, stomach to back, facing the same direction, arms still attached.

"Let go of me on the count of three, okay?"

I nodded. I could hold my own self up now, and I just needed to trust that she was capable of doing the same so that she wouldn't fall and drag me down with her on impulse. But I'd seen Brittany in the air this past week, and knew that she could probably fall asleep on the bar, just hanging by her legs and not fall.

"1, 2... 3" on her count, we both let go and extended our arms. I threw mine above my head, and she held hers extended down and outward, before surprising me by wrapping them around my waist.

My breath hitched. This was the intimacy I was talking about. With Puck, it used to just feel like the many embraces we shared over the years. I was used to his strong arms wrapping around me, but Brittany's were such a pleasant contrast. They were softer; not quite as suffocating.

As fast as they had landed there, they were gone, and Brittany was now gripping my hips, encouraging me to move. With the aid of her leverage, I pulled myself up so that I was now sitting on the bar with Brittany still dangling beneath me. I gripped the ropes above my head, and for the briefest of moments my body fell into it's rehearsed routine and I backflipped and dropped; my heart stopped momentarily in panic when it occurred to me that I was not doing this dance with a partner who knew what was coming next, but it quickly found it's rhythm again when I felt Brittany secure my legs in her strong hold and I let go of the ropes. She was so quick, it was almost like she expected it.

My hands now safely on the bar of the trapeze, I nudged my legs slightly, signalling to Brittany to let go, and she did, instead moving her hands to my lower back, right above my butt, giving me a comfortable position to let go of the bar and fall back, once again, trusting her not to drop me.

Feeling a little more comfortable now, though my heart was still racing with going through such motions with someone so unfamiliar, I allowed my my body to arch back, and she kept a firm hold of me as I lay suspended in the air. I brought my legs up to just above her shoulders, allowing her a second to adjust her arms so that they could catch me by my calves, I let one leg fall back, and extended my arms in a star like pose. Brittany for her part, kept hold of my other leg, but extended her arm in a mirroring motion that looked almost as though we'd rehearsed it. I swung and dropped again so that she could catch me by my arms so that I had returned to the position we had started in. Then, swinging my whole body in one swift motion, and with Brittany's aid, I made my way into a standing position on the bar like she had been before. Brittany dropped her legs and gripped the bar with her hands. I pulled myself up, using my arms to hold me above the bar so as to allow Brittany room to swing into a sitting position, and then lowered myself into her lap.

I let out a relieved breath and then we both burst into a fit of laughter that I wasn't sure was due to the child-like position we found ourselves in, swinging back and forth now with me in her lap, or because it had actually worked out and we'd read each other's body language to perfection; neither of us had fallen, or fucked up. I looked back at her and our eyes locked, our laughter died down, and that intense gaze she always gave was burning bright in her blue eyes as we just stared at each other from our position on the trapeze.

A slow clap sounded from the doorway that broke our staring contest, and we looked in the direction to find Will leaning against the door frame with a cheshire grin on his face.

"That, was... PHENOMENAL!" He cheered, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "If I didn't know any better, I'd have thought you guys had been working together for months."

As he spoke, Brittany manoeuvred us towards the ladder and we made our way to the ground in turn.

"It's still a little stiff, but that's to be expected when you've never worked together before, but I think you guys are gonna be a hit with the audience!"

I couldn't help but smile wide, his excitement was infectious and I could see Brittany was trying to hide her pride in nailing that practice. Obviously that wouldn't be our routine, we still had to come up with that, but we had to get comfortable with each other first, and quite frankly, I'd had so much fun winging it with Brittany, I nearly wouldn't mind doing our first few shows off the cuff. However, I knew that wouldn't fly with Sue, and I knew that this investment was too important to risk it all on impromptu routines, but that was the most exhilarated I'd felt in ages.

Will went to the other end of the hall and began going through the set list.

I turned to Brittany, my smile still bright, and held up my hand for a high five.

She giggled, shaking her head "You're such a dork." But slapped my palm anyways.

Moments later the rest of the group filed in, Lima Bean coffee cups in their hands. Puck and Quinn headed straight for us and handed us our own cups.

"So, how'd it go?"

I sipped gratefully from the warm hazelnut latte Puck had brought me, before answering his question. "We _owned_ it!" I said cockily!

Brittany laughed. "We still have a lot of work to do, but Santana's right, we killed it this morning. We're gonna do some great things."

She gave me another one of her burning gazes as she said this, and I felt almost uncomfortable under the attention. Almost.

"Well... what are you waiting for? Get up there and show us what you got." Quinn said, already reaching out and taking our cups from us.

Myself and Brittany looked at each other in what felt like a private conversation; silently agreeing we could probably pull off another improv performance.

And we did. I was actually glad we had done it again, it made me much more confident when it came time to start planning an actual routine.

* * *

As the others all worked on their sets, Brittany and I sat off to the side, with just a pen, a notebook, and an open laptop.

There was no denying that Brittany and I had great chemistry in the sky, even Kitty had surprisingly commented on it and sounded genuinely impressed. So we decided to use that to our advantage in our act. Sex it up a bit. With myself and Puck it had been all about the tricks we performed that would illicit the most _oooh_s and _ahhh_s from the audience, but Brittany and I had decided we wanted to reach deeper, we wanted to make them _feel _the passion, _long _for such a connection with another human being, and ultimately, get them feeling a little hot under the collar - nothing too risqué, after all, it was still a family show. But what we wanted to achieve was a performance that left the grown ups feeling like they'd just witnessed the most erotic display of their entire lives, while dazzling the children whose heads the true depth of the act, would go over. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't about to be porn in the sky, we were just going to push the performance to it's limits, but it would be tasteful, not trashy. We agreed to not take it too far, to give the audience just enough, but leave them aching for more.

We spent most of the day planning the routine, and just an hour and a half in the evening testing parts of it out.

I could feel the muscles in my shoulders ripple as I moved beneath Brittany on the trapeze; she moved so gracefully into various positions and I followed suit, almost as though there were some invisible thread pulling me after her. It was magnetic, and I could feel the potential power in this performance.

When we decided to call it a day, I silently hoped that what we'd come up with was enough for Brittany to forget all about hair hanging for the rest of forever, but I had a feeling she wasn't quick to forget anything. A feeling she confirmed as she, Puck, Quinn, and I were making our way to our cars.

"Same time tomorrow?" She called from the drivers side of her green bug.

"Uh-uh" I said, unlocking mine with the key. I really needed to get the battery changed in my fob.

"I'll be sure to wear a turtle neck for warm ups." I was mortified, but she just winked like she had earlier, and got into her car, laughing.

"What was that about?" Puck questioned as he entered the passenger seat of my car.

"Nothing. She's just being weird."

Puck gave me a knowing look, which I knew meant he knew _exactly _what that had been about. "Suuuuuure."

* * *

Later that evening, after Puck and I had packed the rest of our things, and he lay strewn across my couch, snoring, while I aimlessly flicked through channels from my position in my bean bag chair, my phone buzzed.

I picked it up, not recognising the number on the screen.

_**Hey, it's Brittany, I forgot to give you my number earlier, so got yours from Will. Today was fun:) **_

I smiled goofily at the text in front of me. There was nothing particular smile-evoking about it, but I couldn't help it. I usually played it cool when a girl text me, leaving her sweat it out a standard thirty minutes or so before responding, but Brittany wasn't just a random girl I was trying to sleep with, she was my partner. And besides, I had been forbidden from fornicating within the troupe... but that's a story for later. So instead, I immediately text Brittany back.

**Yeah, it was. We kicked ass! **

I had barely placed my phone back in my lap before it was buzzing again.

_**Mmmhmm the audience won't know what hit them. Was it weird for you, not working with Puck?**_

I thought about it for a second, and answered honestly.

**No. You're a great partner. I felt surprisingly comfortable letting you throw me around. lol. You've got very capable hands. What about you? Was I ok?**

What Brittany responded with took me a little off guard.

_**The best I've ever had ;)**_

Was she flirting with me? I wanted to come straight out and ask her if she was that way inclined, but was afraid to startle her by being too forward. Maybe I could? She was behaving pretty brazenly today. Before I had a chance to respond, another text from Brittany came through.

_**Goodnight, Santana ;P **_

I didn't bother responding, and made my mind up not to inquire further about her orientation or encourage any flirting, however harmless it may be. Been there, bought the t-shirt. It was dangerous territory, and this show was way too important.

Things with me and Brittany needed to remain strictly professional... on the ground at least.

All bets were off in the air.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for reading! **


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